Posted 04-23-2003 at 19:48:51
[Reply] [No Email] I've built a few docks over the years, with varying degrees of longevity, and i already know like wheels since it'll get pulled every Fall. But this Spring's low water has me thinking - we're getting a new one ready to launch, and of course it will sit pretty high above the river to allow for "average" water levels. It's metal and i'll deck it with treated plywood.

So i got thinking - it'd sure be handy to have an umbrella or something for shade, so why not make it permanent so why not build the dock high enough to tie the boat underneathso it, so it MIGHT be a handy boat shelter and save me some bailing (50-100 gallons every darn time it rains) until the water rises, SOOO in effect,i want a fishing pier. Well, sorta bridge. Well, boat house.

What would be the handiest features? Have you had any dock experiences that you could attribute to the way it was built?

Dave Smith

Posted 04-24-2003 at 13:12:13
[Reply][Send Email]Strange you should mention that now. I started building a dock for our island up in Georgan Bay this morning. We had a 14 foot float, party boat given to us. I narrowed it to 6 feet from 8 feet and have to lengthen the decking by 2 feet. We fasten it to shore with 2 steel pipes with pins on the ends that act like a hinge and put a 4 foot wide ramp out to it. Works good for up there. Our other dock is made from 6, 50 gallon pickel barrels. To keep it from getting crushed by the ice you must use round barrels. As the water freezes it just lifts the dock up. The ice gets 6 feet thick up there. I don't know what you're ice situation is but this works for us.Dave <

Yankee

Posted 04-23-2003 at 21:28:27
[Reply] [No Email]How about a pier type dock with piles for the legs.You can have a ramp or small set of steps to get to it from shore.This way you can build a small shelter on it and dock your boat underneath it.What type of bottom do you have where you want to put this? Is it sandy,muddy,or pretty hard with rocks.You might be able to sink pipe and fill with concrete and build on that,with treated 2x6 planking for the weather factor.Hope this might help trigger some ideas to build on.Let me know how you make out.